Ministry of Home Affairs
The President of India conferred Padma Shri to Dr. Sankurathri Chandrasekhar in field of Social Work, Shri ChintalapatiVenkatapathi Raju and Shri Kota SatchidanandaSastry in field of Art from Andhra Pradeshin Civil Investiture Ceremony
The President also conferred Padma Shri on Prof. Prakash Chandra Sood in field of Literature & Education
The President of India SmtDroupadiMurmuconferred Padma Shri to Dr. Sankurathri Chandrasekhar in field of Social Work, Shri ChintalapatiVenkatapathi Raju and Shri Kota SatchidanandaSastry in field of Art from Andhra Pradeshin Civil Investiture Ceremony here today. The President also conferred Padma Shri on Prof. Prakash Chandra Sood in field of Literature & Education.
A brief citation about the life and work of awardees is given below-
- Dr. Sankurathri Chandrasekhar has been conferred Padma Shri in field of Social Work.
Dr. Sankurathri Chandrasekhar is an eminent social activist and the Managing Trustee of Sankurathri Foundation; the President of ManjariSankurathri Memorial Foundation; Correspondent of SaradaVidyalayam and Managing Director of Srikiran Institute of Ophthalmology.
Born on 20thNovember, 1943. Dr. Sankurathri received his M.Sc. degree in Zoology from Andhra University, M.S. degree in Biology from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada and Ph.D. degree from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. Later, he worked in Canada for 13 years in various capacities and returned to India in 1988 to start the humanitarian work.
Dr. Sankurathri established Sankurathri Foundation as a memorial to his wife and two children killed in the explosion of Air India Flight 182 off the coast of Ireland on 23rd June, 1985. The Foundation’s aim is to improve the quality of life among rural poor and needy through some sustainable developmental projects. He has been in Kakinada since 1988 to organize, implement and manage the projects, children’s education, quality eye care and emergency relief measures during natural disasters. He educated over 5,000 rural students, eye care services to over 37 lakhs of people and performed over 3,25,000 surgeries.
Dr. Sankurathri’s work is well recognized. He has won many awards and recognitions for his selfless services to the humanity.An hour-long documentary “A Ray of Light” was broadcasted by Canadian Broadcasting Company in 2005; “Margadarsi” by ETV 2 in 2008 and “Velugu - Veliginchu” by Maa TV in 2011. For his outstanding work, he received many awards like CNN Hero by CNN International in 2008 and was the first Indian to be nominated. He was invited by the World Volunteer Conference, Edmonton, Canada in 1998, and in 2009 he was featured as one among six people making Canada proud by his work. In 2010, he received Certificate of recognition by Government of Ontario, Canada for the outstanding contribution to humanity. In 2012, he received “Doctor of Laws” degree from Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. In 2013, he received “Humanitarian of the Year” by the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce. In 2016, he was awarded “Outstanding Humanitarian Service Award”, by The Canadian Ophthalmological Society for unfailing dedication and compassion in providing accessible, equitable and quality eye care to underserved populations.
In India, Dr. Sankurathri received best NGO award for performing maximum number of cataract surgeries by the Government of Andhra Pradesh in 2002 and 2003. He received “Service above self Award” from Rotary International in 2004; received ASSOCHAM Social Innovation Excellence Award in 2012 and received “Senior Citizen” Award by CNN - IBN in 2013for the outstanding work. In 2019, he received “Certificate of Appreciation for the services rendered to poor and downtrodden” by Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, the then Vice-President of India.